Liquid crystal display panel

ABSTRACT

An LCD panel is provided for improving a contrast ratio by suppressing light leakage around gate lines of an assembly that is structured to support a liquid crystal alignment mode that enhanced side view visibility of the LCD image. The LCD panel includes a first base substrate, a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines disposed on the first base substrate and crossing each other, a pixel electrode comprising a first oblique line and a second oblique line disposed on the first base substrate and inclined in a different direction from each other with respect to the gate lines, a second base substrate, a common electrode disposed on the second base substrate and alternately positioned with the pixel electrode, wherein a portion of the common electrode overlaps the gate line segment, and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first and second base substrates.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No.2007-0010562 filed on Feb. 1, 2007 and all the benefits accruingtherefrom under 35 U.S.C. §119, and the disclosure of which are hereinincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

The present disclosure of invention relates to a liquid crystal display(“LCD”) panel and, in particular, to an improved LCD panel which iscapable of inhibiting light leakage around gate lines when using aliquid crystal alignment distribution mode that is intended to provideenhanced side view visibility and to also provide high transmissivityfor improving apparent contrast ratio.

2. Description of Related Technology

An LCD device displays a desired image by supplying a video signal toliquid crystal cells arranged in a matrix form and by controlling lighttransmissivity of the individual liquid crystal cells according to pixeldrive signals embedded in the video signal. Optical viewing angletechnologies have been developed to solve a viewing angle probleminherent to LCDs wherein appearance of a displayed image might bedistorted according to a location from which a viewer watches a screenwhere the location may be one other than that of a heads on directfacing view of the screen.

The optical viewing angle improving technologies used for LCD devicesinclude a so-called, Patterned-ITO Vertical Alignment (“PVA”) mode, anIn-Plane Switching (“IPS”) mode, and a Plane-to-Line Switching (“PLS”)mode.

In the PVA mode, a fringe electric field is generated between a commonelectrode and a pixel electrode formed respectively in first and secondbase substrates due to provision of slits in the electrodes. Liquidcrystal molecules are symmetrically driven into different orientationson the basis of the placement of the slits and the distributed fringeelectric fields generated around the locals of the slits, therebyforming a multi-domain distribution of crystal orientations. In the IPSmode, the liquid crystal molecules are oriented by a lateral electricfield formed between a common electrode and a pixel electrode where thelatter are both formed to be parallel to each other on a second basesubstrate. Also in the PLS mode, an insulator is disposed between thecommon electrode and the pixel electrode in each pixel area. In the PLSmode, an electric field having horizontal and vertical components isgenerated between the common electrode and the pixel electrode to driveliquid crystal molecules filled between first and second base substratesin each pixel area. In the IPS mode and PLS modes, since the electricfield is generated by forming the two electrodes on one same substrate,undesirable image sticking occurs and the light transmissivity isdecreased. On the other hand, in the PVA mode, an aperture ratio of eachpixel area is comparatively low due to the presence of slits in thecommon and pixel-electrodes. To solve the above problems, a Dual FieldSwitching (“DFS”) mode has been recently proposed.

In the proposed DFS mode, liquid crystal molecules are both laterallyand vertically aligned with respect to a shaped electric field generatedby specially shaped electrode patterns formed on first and second sidetransparent substrates of the LCD panel. One embodiment of the DFS modeuses a common electrode and a pixel electrode linearly formed inrespective planes on the first and second base substrates. The liquidcrystal molecules are aligned using a liquid crystal driving electricfield in which a lateral (horizontal) portion of the electric field anda vertical portion of the electric field are generated between thecommon electrode and the pixel electrode in a mixed distributive manner,thereby improving side view visibility and also improving lighttransmissivity (by keeping the per pixel aperture ratio relativelylarge). In the DFS mode, since the liquid crystal molecules are drivenby electrodes formed over the whole pixel unit area, the transmissionarea is wide and thus provides good transmissivity. However, the liquidcrystal molecules are easily moved by the influence of electric fieldsfrom adjacent electrodes (in particular those from adjacent gate lines)and thus it is difficult to prevent extraneous orientations of liquidcrystal molecules from being formed about peripheral regions of thedifferent pixel areas.

An LCD panel using a conventional form of the proposed DFS mode suffersfrom a relatively low contrast ratio when displaying a black or darkgray level since light leakage tends to occur in the vicinity of gatelines due to extraneous orientations of liquid crystal molecules aroundthe gate lines. More specifically, since in the conventional DFS mode,the orientations of liquid crystal molecules in the vicinity of the gatelines are irregularly arranged by the fringe electric fields generatedabout the gate lines during a horizontal scan interval and these gateline fields are not controllably influenced by the different controlvoltages being stored on the pixel electrode of the adjoining pixelunit, the irregularly arranged liquid crystal molecules in the area ofgate lines are not capable of properly suppressing light transmissivitywhen a black or dark gray level is desired in the adjoining pixel area,and they thereby can generate light leakage and decrease the apparentcontrast ratio of the black or dark gray level in the adjoining pixelarea in certain situations so as to give users of the DFS operated panelthe impression that the adjoining pixel area is not as dark as it shouldbe. More specifically, although the LCD panel of the DFS mode uses ablack matrix in the vicinity of the gate lines for the purpose ofblocking light leakage around peripheral edges of each pixel area, theblack matrix has a tendency to deviate during mass production from itsdesign-specified normal location due to an arrangement (alignment) errorof the first and second base substrates when assembling the LCD panel ona mass production basis. The so-misaligned black matrix is incapable ofblocking all the light leakage generated by the liquid crystal moleculesadjacent to the gate lines and thus the contrast ratio of the black ordark gray level is disadvantageously decreased when misalignment of theblack matrix occurs.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure of invention provides an LCD panel which includesmeans for shielding against extraneous electric fields being generatedin the vicinity of the gate line segments that adjoin darkened pixelareas and it thus prevents extraneous orientations of liquid crystalmolecules in the vicinity of the gate line segments from occurring andit thus reduces the corresponding light leakage that tends to occuraround the vicinity of the gate lines, this thereby improving theapparent contrast ratio for darkened pixels of the LCD panel.

In an exemplary embodiment, the LCD panel includes a first basesubstrate, a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data linesdisposed on the first base substrate and crossing each other, a pixelelectrode comprising a first oblique line and a second oblique linedisposed on the first base substrate and inclined in a differentdirection from each other with respect to the gate lines, a second basesubstrate, a common electrode disposed on the second base substrate andalternately positioned with the pixel electrode, wherein a portion ofthe common electrode overlaps the gate line segment; and a liquidcrystal layer disposed between the first and second base substrates.

In some embodiments, the pixel electrode is formed to have spaced apartfirst stripes with a prescribed spacing distance and wherein the commonelectrode is formed to have spaced apart second stripes with the samespacing distance.

In some embodiments, a portion of the common electrode overlaps a gateelectrode.

In an exemplary embodiment, the LCD panel includes a first basesubstrate, a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data linesdisposed on the first base substrate and crossing each other, a pixelelectrode comprising a first oblique line and a second oblique linedisposed on the first base substrate and inclined in a differentdirection from each other with respect to the gate lines, a second basesubstrate, a common electrode disposed on the second base substrate,wherein the common electrode comprises, a first pattern line formed tobe parallel with the data line, a second pattern line alternating withcorresponding pattern lines of the pixel electrode according to aprescribed distance to form a liquid crystal driving electric fieldtogether with the pixel electrode and a third pattern line overlappingthe gate line segment and a liquid crystal layer disposed between thefirst and second base substrates.

In some embodiments, the third pattern line is formed with asubstantially larger width than a width of the underlying gate linesegment.

In some embodiments, the second pattern line is obliquely formed tocorrespond to the pixel electrode.

In some embodiments, the common electrode includes a slit formed in thethird pattern line on the gate line.

In some embodiments, the slit is formed on the gate line to be parallelwith the gate line.

In some embodiments, the slit divides the third pattern line overlappingthe gate line into at least two parts.

In some embodiments, the portion of common electrode overlaps the gateelectrode.

In an exemplary embodiment, the LCD assembly includes a first basesubstrate and a second base substrate, the first base substrate having apixel-electrode and an adjacent gate line segment formed thereon and thesecond base substrate having a common electrode formed thereon, whereinthe common electrode and the pixel-electrode have staggered linepatterns respectively defined therein for defining liquid crystalsdriving fields for driving interposed liquid crystals into distributedorientations so as to allow for side viewing of a displayed image aswell as heads on viewing of the image and wherein the common electrodehas a gate line overlapping portion that generously overlaps theadjacent gate line segment so that at least one of the liquid crystalsdriving fields substantially intermixes with an extraneous electricfield formed between the gate line overlapping portion and the gate linesegment so as to thereby co-influence liquid crystals influenced by theextraneous electric field.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present disclosure of invention willbe more apparent from the following detailed description in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating an LCD panel according to anexemplary first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-I′ of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II′ of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating a common electrode shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5A is a plan view illustrating the common electrode according toanother exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view illustrating the common electrodeshown in FIG. 5A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein withreference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers willbe used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.Detailed descriptions of well-known nuts and bolts functions andstructures may be omitted herein to avoid obscuring the subject matterof the present disclosure of invention.

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating an LCD panel according to anexemplary embodiment. FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are cross-sectional views takenalong line I-I′ and line II-II′ of FIG. 1, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the LCD panel includes a TFT substrate100, a color filter substrate 200 affixed in spaced apart facingrelation to the TFT substrate 100, and liquid crystals interposedbetween the TFT substrate 100 and the color filter substrate 200.

The TFT substrate 100 includes a gate line 110 and a data line 140formed on a first base substrate 101, and a pixel electrode 160 formedas linear stripes in a corresponding pixel area, where the correspondingpixel area is bounded by the gate line 110 and the data line 140. Thecolor filter substrate 200 includes a common electrode 240 designed toform shaped first electric fields together with the pixel electrode 160.The common electrode 240 is formed as linear stripes that are staggeredto alternate with the stripes of the pixel electrode 160 according to aprescribed staggering distance and to also generously overlap with thegate line 110.

The liquid crystals are driven into corresponding orientations by theelectric fields generated by a difference of a data voltage supplied tothe pixel electrode 160 of TFT substrate 100 and of a common voltagesupplied to the common electrode 240 of the color filter substrate 200.The supplied data voltage thus controls the transmissivity of lightsupplied from a light source through the corresponding pixel area. Inone embodiment, the liquid crystals are normally horizontally alignedand provided with positive dielectric anisotropy.

The TFT substrate 100 includes the gate line 110 and the date line 140formed on the first base substrate 101 by crossing each other, a TFTdenoted as T1 and formed in a corner of the pixel area, where the pixelelectrode 160 connects to the TFT T1. A protective layer 150 covers theTFT T1 to insulate the TFT T1 from other electrodes. A storage line 115may be formed to run parallel with the gate line 110 and to connect to astorage electrode 116 that forms a charge storage capacitor. Asunderstood by artisans skilled in the art, the storage capacitoraugments an LCD capacitor defined by the pixel-electrode, theoverlapping portion of the common electrode and the liquid crystaldielectric therebetween.

The first base substrate 101 portion of the TFT substrate is made of atransparent insulating material such as glass or plastic.

The gate line 110 is transversely formed on the first base substrate101. In one embodiment, the gate line 110 is formed of a single layer ora plurality of conductor layers including one of molybdenum (“Mo”),niobium (“Nb”), copper (“Cu”), aluminum (“Al”), chrome (“Cr”), silver(“Ag”), tungsten (“W”), or an alloy thereof. A gate electrode 111 isformed in a crossing area of the gate line 110 and the data line 140.

The data line 140 is vertically formed on the first base substrate 101.In one embodiment, the data line 140 is formed of a single layer or aplurality of conductor layers including one of molybdenum (“Mo”),niobium (“Nb”), copper (“Cu”), aluminum (“Al”), chrome (“Cr”), silver(“Ag”), titanium (“Ti”), or an alloy thereof. A source electrode 141 anda drain electrode 143 are formed in a crossing area of the gate line 110and the data line 140.

The TFT T1 includes the gate electrode 111, a gate insulation layer 120which insulates the gate electrode 111 from a semiconductor layer 130,the semiconductor layer 130 formed on the gate insulation layer 120, andsource and drain electrodes 141 and 143 spaced apart from each other onthe semiconductor layer 130.

The gate electrode 111 protrudes from the one side of the gate line 110and controls a driving of the TFT T1 through a gate driving signalsupplied from the gate line 110. During a horizontal scan period, thegate driving signal drives the TFT to be turned on so as to charge itspixel-electrode towards a desired data voltage.

The gate insulation layer 120 covers the gate electrode 111 to insulatethe gate electrode 111 made of a conductive metal material from otherelectrodes made of other metal materials.

The semiconductor layer 130 includes an active layer 131 made forexample of amorphous silicon and an ohmic contact layer 132 made forexample of heavily doped (e.g., N+) amorphous silicon.

The source electrode 141 is formed in, but not limited to, a “U” shapeso as to surround the drain electrode 143 but remain spaced apart fromthe drain electrode 143 with a prescribed distance (a channel length).The source electrode 141 may be formed in various shapes.

One side of the drain electrode 143 is formed to face the sourceelectrode 141 and the other side thereof is formed with a wider area tobe connected to the pixel electrode 160 of the corresponding pixel area.The drain electrode 143 may be formed in various shapes.

The source electrode 141 receives a data signal from the data line 140where the data signal defines a light transmissivity that is to beattained by the pixel area in order to display a corresponding image.The drain electrode 143 receives a passed-through data voltage as passedfrom the source electrode 141 through the channel region of thesemiconductor layer 130 when the TFT is turned on. The data voltagesupplied to the drain electrode 143 is further transferred to the pixelelectrode 160 connected to the other side of the drain electrode 143.

In one embodiment, the protective layer 150 is formed of an inorganicmaterial such as a silicon nitride (“SiNx”) or a silicon oxide (“SiOx”),or an organic material such as acrylic, polyimide or benzoclylobutene(“BCB”). The protective layer 150 is formed as a single layer ormultiple layers staked by the inorganic material and the organicmaterial. The protective layer 150 covers the TFT T1 and the gateinsulation layer 120 to insulate the TFT T1 from other electrodes suchas the pixel electrode 160. The protective layer 150 includes a contacthole 151 exposing a part of the drain electrode 143 for contact with thepixel-electrode 160. The contact hole 151 may be formed by etching apart of the protective layer 150 covering the drain electrode 143 usinga mask.

The pixel electrode 160 is formed on the protective layer 150 andconnected to the drain electrode 143 of the TFT T1 through the contacthole 151. The pixel electrode 160 is linearly formed in the pixel areawith a prescribed width. The pixel electrode 160 includes verticallines, horizontal lines and oblique lines. The horizontal lines andvertical lines of the pixel-electrode respectively overlap the storageline 115 and the storage electrode 116 to form the storage capacitor.The oblique lines of the pixel-electrode connect the vertical lines toeach other and are spaced apart with a prescribed spacing distance todefine a symmetric pattern about a horizontal line located at the centerof the pixel area and coaxial with the storage line 115. The obliquelines are inclined with respect to the long or short sides of the firstbase substrate 101.

A first liquid crystals alignment layer (not shown) is formed on the topsurface of the TFT substrate 100 including the pixel electrode 160. Inan exemplary embodiment, a horizontal alignment layer is formed on theTFT substrate 100. A rubbing direction of the alignment layer isparallel with the long or short side of the first base substrate 101.The oblique lines of the pixel electrode 160 are at a prescribed anglewith respect to the rubbing direction of the alignment layer. In oneembodiment, the prescribed angle is about 10° to about 30°

The color filter substrate 200 includes the black matrix 210 on a secondbase substrate 201 to help prevent light leakage. The color filtersubstrate 200 also includes the color filter 220 to display colors, anovercoat layer 230 to reduce the stepped height or to improve planaritybetween the black matrix 210 and the color filter 220, and the commonelectrode 240 to supply the common voltage to the liquid crystal. Theblack matrix 210 is formed so that it vertically overlaps the TFT T1,the gate line 110, the data line 140, and the storage line 115 of theTFT substrate 100 in order to prevent light from leaking. The blackmatrix 210 may be formed of an opaque organic material or metal.

The color filter 220 is formed under the black matrix 210 and includesred (“R”), green (“G”), and color blue (“B”) color filters to displaycolors. The color filter 220 absorbs or transmits light of a specificwavelength for example through R, G, and B pigments, thereby displayingR, G, and B colors. The LCD panel can display the various colors byadditive mixture of the transmitted R, G, and B lights.

The overcoat layer 230 is formed of a transparent organic material toprotect the color filter 220 and the black matrix 210. The overcoatlayer 230 is formed for good step coverage and insulation of the commonelectrode 240.

The common electrode 240 is formed of a transparent conductor (e.g., ametal) such as indium tin oxide (“ITO”) or indium zinc oxide (“IZO”).The common electrode 240 receives the common voltage, i.e. a referencevoltage. The shape of the common electrode 240 contributes to definingelectric fields generated through the liquid crystal layer due to thedifferences for example between the common voltage and the data voltageof the pixel electrode 160. As better seen for example in FIGS. 4 and5A, the common electrode 240 is arranged to include a symmetrical set ofoblique stripes inclined toward the long or short side of the secondbase substrate 201.

A second alignment layer (not shown) is formed on a lowest surface ofthe color filter substrate 200 including the common electrode 240. In anexemplary embodiment, a second horizontal alignment layer is formed onthe color filter substrate 200. A rubbing direction of the secondalignment layer, like the rubbing direction of the TFT substrate 100, isparallel with the long or short side of the second base substrate 201.The common electrode 240 is at a prescribed angle with respect to therubbing direction of the alignment layer. In one embodiment, theprescribed angle is about 10° to about 30°.

Hereinafter, a shape of the common electrode 240 will be described inmore detail with reference to the FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a plan view illustrating the common electrode shown in FIG. 1according to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

The common electrode 240 includes a first pattern line 241, a secondpattern line 242, and a third pattern line 243.

The first pattern line 241 extends vertically to overlap the data line140 in the TFT substrate below.

The second pattern line 242 is obliquely formed relative to the firstpattern line 241 and extended linearly to become connected to twoparallel and successive ones of the first pattern lines 241. The secondpattern lines 242 are formed to run parallel with the oblique lines ofthe pixel electrode 160 with the same spacing distance being presentbetween successive ones of the second pattern lines 242 as is presentbetween successive ones of the oblique lines of the pixel electrode 160.The second pattern lines 242 are staggered relative to the oblique linesof the pixel electrodes 160 so as to maintain a same staggering distancebetween oblique lines of the TFT substrate and oblique lines of thecolor filters substrate. An example of the staggering is seen forexample in FIG. 3 between common electrode oblique line 242 andillustrated oblique line portions 160 of the underlying pixel-electrode.As a result of this staggered configuration, when a voltage differenceis established between the common electrode portion and thepixel-electrode of a given pixel area, the second pattern lines 242create a liquid crystal driving electric field between themselves andthe corresponding oblique lines of the pixel electrode 160 in which alateral electric field component and a vertical electric field componentare mixed together.

The third pattern line 243 is transversely formed to generously overlapwith the underlying gate line segment 110 as may be seen for example inFIG. 3. A common voltage is supplied to the third pattern line 243. Atthis time, an electric field is formed between the third pattern line243 and the underlying gate line segment 110 where the formed electricfield is different from the fringe fields formed between the staggeredoblique lines. The third pattern line 243 is shaped to prevent anextraneous liquid crystal orientation influence that can be exerted byits electric field alone so that the liquid crystal molecules affectedby the liquid crystal driving electric field generated between theoblique line of the adjacent pixel electrode 160 and the adjacent secondpattern line 242 may continue to be substantially similarly regularlyarranged as one moves from the vicinity of the second pattern lines 242towards the region where the third pattern line 243 overlaps the gateline segment 110. For doing this, the third pattern line 243 may formedabove the gate line segment 110 with a substantially larger width thanthe gate line segment 110. The third pattern line 243 works to preventextraneous light leakage around the region of the gate line segment 110by forming an electric field to the underlying gate line segment 110where the formed third-line to gate-line field is at least partiallyintermixed with and thus controlled by the liquid crystal drivingelectric field formed between the pixel electrode 160 and the adjacentsecond pattern line 242.

More specifically, the third pattern line 243 of the common electrode240 operates to prevent light leakage from getting around a misalignedblack matrix 210 by intentionally inducing cross talk between theelectric fields of the pixel-electrode lines 160 and the electric fieldof the gate line segment 110. For example, when the LCD panel drives theliquid crystal to display a black or dark gray level in the pixel areaof the adjacent pixel-electrode, the liquid crystals in the vicinity ofthe gate line segment 110 are influenced by this pixel darkening driveto be irregularly arranged due to the influence of the fringe electricfields generated between the substantially wide third pattern line 243and the adjacent lines of the pixel-electrode even while the gate linesegment 110 is receiving a substantially different voltage (e.g., a gateturn on voltage) from the black or dark gray level voltage stored on theadjacent pixel-electrode 160. If not misaligned, the black matrix 210should prevent leakage of light transmitted through these irregularlyarranged liquid crystals around the vicinity of the gate line segment110 irrespective of the current voltage on the gate line 110. However,when the black matrix 210 is misaligned by a relatively large margin dueto misalignments during assembly, the black matrix by itself may fail toblock the light that is influenced only by the voltage on the gate line110. However, in the illustrated embodiments (e.g., FIGS. 4 and 5A) theelectric fields formed about the gate line 110 are not free of influencefrom the black or dark gray causing fields formed between the wide thirdpattern line 243 and the nearest oblique line 160 of thepixel-electrode. As a result of this intentional cross talk influence,the LCD panel has less of a decrease in contrast ratio of the black ordark gray levels than seen due to light leakage in panels that do nothave such an arrangement of a relatively narrow gate line 110 and asubstantially wider common electrode portion 243 overlying thatrelatively narrow gate line 110. Due to the intentionally created crosstalk between the electric fields, the liquid crystals in the vicinity ofthe gate line 110 are partially controlled by the intermixing of theelectric field generated between the pixel electrode 160 and the secondpattern line 242. Therefore, the extra wide third portion 243 of thecommon electrode 240 works to suppress light leakage which is nototherwise blocked by the black matrix 210.

Hereinafter, another exemplary embodiment of the common electrode 240will be described in more detail with reference to the FIG. 5A and FIG.5B.

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are respectively a plan view and a cross-sectionalview illustrating a common electrode according to another exemplaryembodiment of the present disclosure of invention.

The common electrode 240 of FIGS. 5A-5B includes a slit 244 in thirdportion 243. The slit 244 is formed centrally above the gate line 110 sothat the third portion 243 still generously overlaps the gate line 110and where the slit 244 divides the third pattern line 243 into adjacentsublines 245 and 246.

As in the case of FIG. 4, the common electrode 240 includes a firstpattern line 241 extending in the vertical direction, a second obliquepattern line 242 and a third horizontal pattern line 243. The detaileddescriptions of the first pattern line 241 and the second pattern line242 will be omitted here since these are substantially the same as thein the first exemplary embodiment of FIG. 4.

The third pattern line 243 is transversely formed to generously overlapthe gate line 110. The third pattern line 243 is divided into two ormore parts by for example the illustrated first slit 244. For example,in the illustrated embodiment the third pattern line 243 is formed to bedivided into a first subline 245 and a second subline 246 by the slit244. The slit 244 is formed in the third pattern line 243 with aprescribed length and width such as shown in FIG. 5A for example. Thefirst subline 245 and the second subline 246 operate to suppress theinfluence of the electric field generated only be the narrower gate line110. The combination of the first subline 245 and the second subline 246is sufficiently wide so as to create a substantial amount of crosstalkso that the field between pixel electrode 160 and the second patternline 242 mixes in with the field of the gate line 110 and thus partiallycontrols the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules around thevicinity of the gate line 110. Therefore, the wide configuration of thefirst subline 245 and the second subline 246 operate to suppress lightleakage which might otherwise occur due to misalignment of the blackmatrix 210 caused by an assembly defect.

As described above, an LCD panel in accordance with the disclosureincludes a generously wide common electrode portion (243) that overlapswith a substantially narrower gate line and which is distanced from thenearest oblique line of the pixel-electrode so as to form an electricfield together with the gate line that is crosstalk wise influenced bythe field (e.g., black or dark gray luminosity field) of the adjacentpixel-electrode and is thus suppressed from generating stray light whenthe adjacent pixel-electrode is in a black or dark gray luminosity mode.Thus even if the black matrix formed at the upper side of the liquidcrystal is misaligned, the liquid crystal display panel operates tosuppress light leakage around the gate line by controlling the fieldsthat might cause irregularly arranged distributions of liquid crystalaround the gate line. Therefore, the so-configured LCD panel helps toreduce deterioration of contrast ratio when the black mask ismisaligned.

Although exemplary embodiments have been described in detailhereinabove, it should be understood that many variations and/ormodifications of the basic concepts taught herein may become apparent tothose skilled in the art in light of the above teachings and thus willstill fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A liquid crystal display panel comprising: afirst base substrate; a plurality of linearly elongated gate linesextending in a first direction and a plurality of linearly elongateddata lines extending in a different second direction, the plurality ofgate lines and the plurality of data lines being disposed on the firstbase substrate and crossing each other, the plurality of gate linesincluding a first gate line; a pixel electrode including horizontallines, vertical lines, a first oblique line, and a second oblique linedisposed on the first substrate, the first oblique line and the secondoblique line being in different directions from each other with respectto the first direction, wherein the first oblique line and the secondoblique line connect the vertical lines to each other and are spacedapart according to a predetermined spacing distance; a second basesubstrate; a common electrode disposed on the second base substrate, thecommon electrode having members alternately positioned with respect tomembers of the pixel electrode, wherein the common electrode includes afirst portion disposed parallel to the plurality of data lines, a secondportion disposed parallel to the plurality of data lines, and a thirdportion disposed parallel to the plurality of gate lines and disposedbetween the first portion and the second portion, the first portionbeing connected to the second portion through the third portion, andwherein the third portion of overlaps the first gate line and includes aslit that is parallel to the first gate line; and a liquid crystal layerdisposed between the first and second base substrates.
 2. The liquidcrystal display panel of claim 1, wherein the pixel electrode includesspaced apart first stripes with a prescribed spacing distance, andwherein the common electrode includes spaced apart second stripes withthe same spacing distance.
 3. The liquid crystal display panel of claim1, wherein the third portion overlaps at least one gate electrode. 4.The liquid crystal display panel of claim 1, wherein the slit isdisposed between the first portion and the second portion, and the slitextends from the first portion to the second portion.
 5. The liquidcrystal display panel of claim 1, wherein the common electrode includesa triangular cutout portion.
 6. A liquid crystal display panelcomprising: a first base substrate; a plurality of linearly elongatedgate lines extending in a first direction and a plurality of linearlyelongated data lines extending in a different second direction, theplurality of gate lines and the plurality of data lines being disposedon the first base substrate and crossing each other, the plurality ofgate lines including a first gate line; a pixel electrode including afirst oblique line and a second oblique line disposed on the firstsubstrate, the first oblique line and the second oblique line beinginclined in different directions from each other with respect to thefirst direction; a second base substrate; a common electrode disposed onthe second base substrate, wherein the common electrode comprises: alinearly extending first pattern line formed to be parallel with theplurality of data lines; a linearly extending second pattern linedisposed to extend parallel with but laterally staggered apart from acorresponding pattern lines of the pixel electrode according to aprescribed distance to thereby define, when energized, a liquid crystaldriving electric field together with the pixel electrode; a thirdpattern line disposed parallel to the plurality of gate lines, the thirdpattern line overlapping the first gate line so as to define whenenergized, a differently oriented electric field as between the firstgate line and the third pattern line, the third pattern line including aslit disposed parallel to the first gate line and disposed over the gateline; and a fourth pattern line disposed parallel to the plurality ofdata lines, the third pattern line being disposed between the firstpattern line and the fourth pattern line, the fourth pattern line beingconnected to the first pattern line through the third pattern line; anda liquid crystal layer disposed between the first and second basesubstrates.
 7. The liquid crystal display panel of claim 6, wherein thethird pattern line is formed with a larger width than a width of thefirst gate line.
 8. The liquid crystal display panel of claim 6, whereinthe third pattern line includes a rectangular portion and a trapezoidalportion, the rectangular portion being disposed between the firstpattern line and the trapezoidal portion.
 9. The liquid crystal displaypanel of claim 6, wherein the slit is extends from the first patternline to the fourth pattern line.
 10. The liquid crystal display panel ofclaim 6, wherein the slit divides the third pattern line overlapping thefirst gate line into at least two parts.
 11. The liquid crystal displaypanel of claim 6, wherein the third pattern line overlaps at least onegate electrode.
 12. A liquid crystal display (LCD) assembly comprising:a first base substrate and a second base substrate, the first basesubstrate having a pixel-electrode and an adjacent gate line segmentformed thereon, the second base substrate having a common electrodeformed thereon, wherein the common electrode and the pixel-electrodehave staggered line patterns respectively defined therein for definingliquid crystals driving fields for driving interposed liquid crystalsinto distributed orientations so as to allow for side viewing of adisplayed image as well as heads on viewing of the image; and whereinthe common electrode has a gate line overlapping portion that generouslyoverlaps the adjacent gate line segment so that at least one of theliquid crystals driving fields substantially intermixes with anextraneous electric field formed between the gate line overlappingportion and the gate line segment so as to thereby co-influence liquidcrystals influenced by the extraneous electric field, the commonelectrode further having a first portion and a second portion each beingdisposed parallel to data lines of the LCD assembly, the gate lineoverlapping portion being disposed parallel to the adjacent gate linesegment and being disposed between the first portion and the secondportion, the first portion being connected to the second portion throughthe gate line overlapping portion, the gate line overlapping portionincluding a slit disposed parallel to the adjacent gate line segment.13. The liquid crystal display panel of claim 1, wherein the pixelelectrode includes a plurality of spaced apart first linear segmentsthat are parallel to one another and a plurality of spaced apart secondlinear segments that are parallel to one another, the first linearsegments including the first oblique line that extends obliquelyrelative to the first direction, the second linear segments includingthe second oblique line that extends obliquely relative to the firstdirection.